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Atari Restructures, Hires New CEO, Starts Printing Pink Slips
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Corporate News, Retro,
Looking to end their reverse Midas touch (everything they publish seems to veer away from gold these days), Atari today announced that they are hiring a new president and CEO. David Pierce (no, not THAT David Pierce), former executive vice president of Sony Wonder (Sony’s children’s video and home video arm), will be taking the reins of the troubled videogame maker effective immediately.
Pierce has a strong track record in a variety of entertainment industries and may help Atari to become profitable in the coming months (hopefully without selling off any other major franchises). It should be interesting to see how Pierce plans to put Atari back in the black - if he’s of the “old” school of business, we can expect to see major layoffs and downsizing. Hopefully, Pierce also recognizes that hiring a few top-of-the-line creative talents is what Atari really needs.
Read More 
| Reuters
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Mad Catz Feels Your Pain, Will Release Arcade Stick for Xbox 360
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Fighting, Retro, Rumors, Xbox 360, Xbox Live Arcade,
“Give me your poor retro gamers, your d-pad using masses yearning to breath the freedom of an arcade joystick,” says Mad Catz… or at least that’s what I thought they said. Responding to the complaints of Pac Man and Frogger fans everywhere, Mad Catz will be releasing the “Xbox Live Arcade Stick”, or at least that’s what this image - found briefly in EB Games’ product listings and then promptly removed - would seem to imply. The design replaces one of the analog sticks on the original 360 controller with a large joystick, alleviating some of the problems gamers have been complaining about with the XBLA titles.
Still, there’s a lot about this design that doesn’t make sense. For starters, having the joystick in the top left corner of the controller means that you’re probably going to have to super-glue this thing to the floor to keep it from banging around. And with Street Fighter II recently released on Live Arcade, one would also wonder why Mad Catz didn’t have the foresight to move some of the trigger buttons onto the face of the controller, giving us the old 6-button fighter lovin’. In fact there’s no real indication of where the shoulder buttons even went! Frankly, if someone could just work out the wiring to get a SNES Super Advantage working on a 360, I’d be happier.
Rumor is this unit will drop for $49.99 and will be bundled with some Live Arcade games, and more details are expected later this month. Personally, I’ll be waiting for some reviews before running out to buy this puppy.
Read More | Joystiq.com
Xbox Live Texas Hold ‘Em Free For 48 Hours
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Party Games, Release Dates, Retro, Xbox 360, Xbox Live, Xbox Live Arcade, Xbox Live Marketplace,
Microsoft has announced that the upcoming release of their Texas Hold ‘em game will be available free of charge for 48 hours. Starting Wednesday, August 23, at 1:00 AM Pacific Time, through Friday, August 25, Xbox Live Gold and Silver members will be able to download the Live game at no cost; after this time, the price goes up to 800 Marketplace points. Microsoft is touting a special “persistent bankroll” for the game; players won’t be able to magically reset their chip count, so this should hopefully add more of an incentive for players to play “correctly.” Additional features include 8 player online play and three different gameplay modes.
Microsoft also took the opportunity to pimp their future releases, including a Cloning Clyde picture pack for 100 points, and two new classic arcade releases from Konami, Time Pilot and Scramble for 400 points each.
The full press release continues below.
Click to continue reading Xbox Live Texas Hold ‘Em Free For 48 Hours
Retro Gaming for the Lazy Rich Kid: Arcade In A Box
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Fighting, Hardware, Mods/Hacks, Retro,
Maybe I’m just jealous because, like most MAME cabinet builders, I spent weeks planning out the perfect button layout, designing schematics, ordering parts, and assembling the final system. I felt special—I was part of an elite group with the motivation and know-how to build my own home arcade. But, alas, no longer - thanks to “Arcade In a Box” anyone with $1500 lying around can plunk down the cash for a plug-n-play MAME arcade setup.
Unlike your granpappy’s old X-Arcade joysticks, the setup above includes a fairly substantial built-in computer including a 3 GHz processor, 128 MB graphics card, ethernet, VGA/S-video, and USB ports galore front and back. Plug in a monitor and this set will have you retro gaming in minutes. And for a few extra bucks they’ll even customize the button colors and add in a spinner for that Arkanoid lovin’.
Now excuse me as I ramble to myself about the “good old days.”
Read More | Arcade In A Box via RealTechNews
Pac-Man Makes His Way To Xbox Live Arcade
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Namco, Puzzle, Retro, Xbox Live Arcade, Xbox Live Marketplace,
After 25 years of devouring ghosts on systems incapable of churning out high-definition graphics and surround sound, Pac-Man has finally arrived on the Xbox 360 as part of Xbox Live Arcade Wednesdays. The download will run you 400 points, and contains over 250 levels, along with orignal music and sound effects. Microsoft is pimping that the game has high definition grahics, but let’s not kid ourselves, you won’t be blown away here. Leaderboards and acheivements round out this offering. We know - you can play Pac-Man for free just about anywhere else. If you find today’s release a bit lackluster, just know that next week you will finally get your hands on Texas Hold’em Poker. Of course, since poker isn’t my thang, I am looking straight into next month, awaiting Lumines Live with baited breath…
A Shadowrun Retrospective
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Culture, PC, Retro, Role Playing Games, Xbox 360, Xbox Live,
One of Microsoft’s big initiatives for the upcoming year is the launch of the Live Anywhere service, which seeks to bring PC gamers and Xbox 360 gamers together across the Xbox Live service. One of the games that Microsoft is using to push the service is the new version of Shadowrun. The Shadowrun franchise has its console gaming roots in both Genesis and Super Nintendo versions of the game. Some of the iterations in the game’s history have been fairly faithful to the pen-and-paper roots of the role playing game, while others have been decidedly less so.
Unfortunately for fans of the original game, it looks like Microsoft’s effort is going to be the least accurate portrayal of the Shadowrun universe yet. Ryan McPherson at eToychest reviews the game’s historical console releases, and briefs gamers on why the Microsoft release may be Shadowrun in name only. The game deviates so far from the paper RPG gameplay that the licensee of the tabletop version, FanPro, issued a statement that the computer version “…is not in continuity with the tabletop RPG. It may be more accurately described as a game loosely based on Shadowrun.”
Microsoft hopes that Shadowrun will be one of the titles that will help Live Anywhere succeed, and the fact that the game doesn’t closely follow the Shadowrun universe doesn’t preclude it from being a good game. But one does have to question why they would bother licensing the original intellectual property if they were essentially going to disregard the gameplay and back story of the tabletop version in favor of their own revised continuity.
Read More | eToychest
Future Xbox Live Releases Dated
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Internet, Puzzle, Retro, Xbox 360, Xbox Live, Xbox Live Arcade,
The latest issue of the Official Xbox Magazine has the upcoming schedule of game releases on Xbox Live Arcade. According to Ars Technica, the next series of games and their associated release dates will be:
August 9: Pac-Man
August 16: Texas Hold ‘em
August 23: Time Pilot
August 30: Scramble
September 6: Lumines Live!
Pac-Man, while popular, probably won’t endanger the record set by Street Fighter II’ Hyperfighting for sales, but should be a reasonably decent classic game title. At the very least, the conversion should be much less challenging than the Capcom fighter. Texas Hold ‘em might be interesting online. It is a little disappointing that Microsoft decided not to offer the game for free, and the ultimate price point has yet to be revealed. A couple of Konami classics in Time Pilot and Scramble hit next. Gamers will get Lumines Live just a couple of months before Lumines 2 for the PSP hits the United States. Depending on the pricing and the implementation of online play, Lumines has the opportunity to be another big seller on Microsoft’s Xbox Live service.
Read More | Ars Technica
The history of video games is littered with consoles that have failed to gain acceptance in the marketplace. Nintendo has generally had a strong track record, and looks to be regaining mind share with the Nintendo DS and the Wii. However, there is one console that sits as kind of a black mark on the game manufacturer’s past, the Virtual Boy. The Virtual Boy promised true 3D with its binocular-shaped view screen and red-against-black graphics. Gamers did get 3D, but also got headaches and sore necks from leaning into the viewer. The system was created by Gunpei Yokoi, famed inventor of the Game Boy; it is rumored that the abject failure of the system caused the man to become ostracized from Nintendo. Retro Gaming’s Racketboy give the Virtual Boy a retrospective, and outlines what were some of the top titles for the system. There does seem to be a number of interesting titles on the system; consoles appear to be selling fairly cheaply on eBay, so gamers don’t have to make a huge investment to get a feel for the Virtual Boy in action.
Read More | Racketboy
Street Fighter II Lag
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: CAPCOM, Fighting, Retro, Xbox Live, Xbox Live Arcade,
So, Capcom’s Street Fighter II’ Hyperfighting has hit Xbox Live, and so far, gamer response could be considered mixed at best. Numerous complaints have hit the Internet both via blog posts and the official Xbox forums. Some gamers have reported horrible lag in the game, while others say that while they have experienced a few problems, most of the time the gameplay is smooth. Others have slammed the insane difficulty of single player mode, singling out the computer AI for Ryu as being particularly cheap. According to some, quarter match has worked sporadically, and some gamers have seen the game crash in quick match and custom match modes.
The hardcore Street Fighter fans are even less pleased. In a post titled “Capcom Screws Everyone Again,” gamer Jared Rea slams the game. The version of Hyperfighting that is on Live is not arcade perfect, and with the technology available in the Xbox 360, it should be. Rea blames both Microsoft and Capcom. Microsoft gets blame for passing the game through certification with all of the online bugs present. Capcom’s responsibility lies in giving development of the title to Sensory Sweep; while having one of Capcom’s in-house development teams work on the game would not necessarily ensure a better experience, the version on Xbox Live apparently has glaring gameplay bugs.
Feedback on the game is still early; there is still hope that a later patch could fix some of the online lag and matching issues. But if the accusations of inaccurate gameplay are correct, this will certainly dissuade the hard core Street Fighter crowd.
Read More | 1up
Street Fighter II Finally Hits Xbox Live Arcade
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: CAPCOM, Internet, Retro, Xbox 360, Xbox Live Arcade, Xbox Live Marketplace,
Rumors of Street Fighter II coming to Microsoft’s Xbox Live Arcade first hit in January; according to reports at the time, the game was supposed to hit the service early this year. Finally, on August 2, Street Fighter II’ Hyper Fighting will be available for 800 Microsoft Marketplace Points, approximately $10. The game, of course, will offer a host of online features and achievements, along with the typical leaderboard functionality. Quick match or custom match online game selection will be available, along with a new “quarter match.” The quarter match mode will simulate the old days of gaming back when Street Fighter II dominated the arcades; virtual “quarters” are used to determine who will fight the winner of each match. Hopefully, the time spent leading up to the release will have been used effectively to reduce lag and gamers will be transported back to the days when they actually had to be in the same room as their opponent.
Read More | Gamerscoreblog
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